


Ah, to be Young again

by Washedawaycloud



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect Kink Meme, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect), Teenagers on the Normandy, Unfinished, Xenophilia, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-28
Updated: 2012-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-26 16:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30108699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Washedawaycloud/pseuds/Washedawaycloud
Summary: Aurelia Shepard wakes up on the SSV Normandy 2 and hasn't got a clue why she's onboard. It could be because she's 16 and not 31. Prothean Relics, Crushes, and Awkward Moments (tm) abound. Add in a teenage Garrus and youthful Zaeed for an extra dash of adventure.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Karin Chakwas/Zaeed Massani, Zaeed Massani/Female Shepard
Comments: 4





	1. The Wake-Up

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Through a Prothean device or some other sorta science-fictionry, several members of the Normandy crew are aged backward to a younger state. The affected individuals also lose all their memories from after their new, young age, so they don't remember their adventures on the Normandy. While the rest of the crew tries to find a cure, the de-aged crew get used to their new surroundings, and maybe sow their wild oats a little. 
> 
> The Author is invited to choose whoever they want to have affected though I have a few suggestions:  
> \- Samara: aged back to her younger, wild maiden days, and intrigued by these strange new "aliens" ( i.e. humans) she is now sharing a ship with.  
> -Zaeed: turns out the grizzled merc was quite a heartthrob back when he was a young man  
> -Dr. Chakwas: word has it she was quite a head-turner in her med school days  
> -Earthborn!Shepard: solving this problem is going to be so much harder with Shepard acting like a rebellious street punk  
> -Jack: if the author wants to get a little angsty, take Jack back to her days fresh out of Teltin, a scared but violent young girl.   
> But, whoever you want to play with or how much smut ends up being involved I'm not picky.

Aurelia Shepard was not a happy woman, in fact she was down right terrified and confused. She went to sleep on the SSV Einstein after a day of daycare duty.  
  
 **'Where is the bear that little Anula gave me last night?'**  
  
Green eyes peered around the room – fish tank, large bed, model ship display, space hamster, private bathroom, armor console? What the hell was going on. Even her mother's quarters as a higher up weren't this lush...  
  
“Commander Shepard – Operative Lawson wishes for you -” a disembodied voice began speaking, a blue...head thing, popping up from a console near the door.  
  
“What the living **fuck.** ” Aurelia shrieked.  
  
Scrambling out of bed the redhead all but ran from the room into the elevator, mashing the CIC level frantically. Her thoughts were wildly controlled, breath even, even as she panicked.  
  
 _'This...this is a joke, my mother is getting back at me for filing the volunteer application behind her back with her signature on the permission line.'_ The young commander rationalize on the short trip until the elevator binged, doors opened and a whole lot of humans she'd never laid eyes on looked at her.  
  
 _'Do. Not. Panic.'_  
  
Squaring her shoulders and wincing internally as she remembered she'd just run from her bed, the girl stepped out and made a beeline for the redhead by the console. Was that the galaxy map? That was way more advanced than the Einsteins' – Henri was going to be so jealous when she got back to the academy and told him about this!  
  
“You've received a new message at your console ...” The redhead started and stopped almost simultaneously with her normal greeting as she turned and eyed the slightly shorter, much younger version of her commander.  
  
“Uh...”  
  
“Who are you, where am I, what ship is this, what system are we in and why did my mother send me to this ship. In that order if you please.” Shepard demanded, standing at her full height of five foot two inches, emulating her mother's command tone to the best of her ability.  
  
“I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers, you're on the SSV Normandy SR-2, we're currently docked at Omega on your orders after you returned from a Prothean Dig site at 2050 hours, Commander. Your-Your mother did not send you to this ship.”  
  
Aurelia felt like her brain was imploding. Commander? Omega? Prothean dig site?! She was Sixteen years old for christ's sake, still in high school, two years out from trading the Alliance Academy High for Alliance Military training.  
  
“Commander?” Yeoman Chambers, prodded quietly, as if trying not to startle Shepard. The young woman in question, took a breath, nodded with a sharp, “That'll be all, Yeoman.” and turned to the elevator again. Sighing with relief when she spotted a console near the lift, went and had accessed it in a few moments, grimacing and filing away the panic from using her custom log in and having it work. Mere seconds later she was off to level three – the personnel quarters and where the apparent second in command of this...Normandy, was located.  
  
  
-.-.-.-.-  
  
  
To say Miranda Lawson was surprised when the smaller, near waif-ish, teenaged Commander burst into her office would be an understatement. Saying her shock didn't increase three-fold when a strapping, much less scared version of Zaeed toting his gun, swept in blustering about how the Suns wouldn't stand for an abduction would be a lie. When a teenaged, and mostly naked, Turian dropped from an air duct with a squawk – the Cerberus operative wished she'd just stayed in bed that morning.  
  
It took all of thirty seconds for Miranda to realize she never wanted children when the trio caught sight of each other and began to truly freak out. Well, to be fair, Garrus was the one really freaking out, Zaeed seemed to be trying to impress both herself and the Commander, while Shepard was doing her best to glare a hole in the XO's skull and demanding to speak with her mother. It went on for a few moments before Miranda stood, smacking her palms on the desk before her to garner silence and addressing the group.  
  
“You are on the SSV Normandy SR-2. Shepard, Garrus, and Zaeed, you've apparently been subject to an unfortunate accident. You are in fact, all, a good sixteen to twenty years younger than you should be.”  
  
“Bullshit.”  
  
“No fucking way.”  
  
“Spirits...”  
  
“Get Hannah Shepard on the line, Operative Lawson, I have no reason to believe you! I don't know what sort of crap you're trying to pull here -”  
  
“My father is Executor on the Citadel! He'll know you've taken me, there will be no negotiations – he'll blow this vessel straight out of he sky.”  
  
“We're not in the sky you idiot. We're in space. What I want to know is why three high ranking individuals, well two kids of high rank any way have been abducted by a human supremest group. Especially since two of the three are human.”  
  
Miranda pinched the bridge of her nose and stood straight. “Sit – all of you. We didn't abduct you. Zaeed you were contracted by cerberus for this mission, Garrus was recruited, Shepard you were rebuilt for this – to save humanity.”  
  
“You're on drugs.” Aurelia stated firmly, body taking on a blue glow as her biotics flared with her rising emotions.  
  
“I can assure you that I am not. EDI.”  
  
“Operative Lawson.”  
  
“Get Mordin Solus in here, **now**.”  
  
“Affirmative, logging you out, Operative Lawson.”  
  
While Miranda spoke the the AI, Shepard tried her omnitool. Two tries at the password and she was in, seconds later she had located the Einstein. It was decommissioned in 2182... The color drained from the young woman's face and she ran another search only to come up with the same results.  
  
Shepard ran a search for her mother, the date, and as Miranda looked at her and realized what the teen was doing – herself. A strangled cry silenced two boys and they looked at her curiously.  
  
“Its-It's2185...I'm 31 years old but, I was dead? How could I have been dead if I'm alive! You- You said you rebuilt me! What's going on. Why am I not 31? Why don't I remember my life!” Never before had Shepard broke down as completely as she was at this moment. Then again, the redhead was a frightened sixteen year old girl not a battle hardened soldier.  
  
“ 'ere now Sweet cheeks. It's not 2185 it's 2160, just had me twentieth birthday with my best mate see. Blue Suns are due to start recruiting the hirelings in a week or two.”  
  
Green and blue eyes sent piercing looks at the young Merc.  
  
“No fucking way. I'm sixteen it's 2170! You're cracked!” Ground out the lithe redhead as poor Garrus shuffled awkwardly to the side.  
  
The two young humans didn't stop bickering even as the doors to Miranda's office slide open and Mordin Solus bustled in. He went to address the XO then caught sight of the teenagers.  
  
“Hm. Commander? No. Too young. Zaeed. Garrus. All in late teens. Odd. No reason for degeneration of age. What caused this? Collector battle? No. Whole crew would have degenerated. Unknown element exposure on planet? Didn't pick up readings. Strange tech? Prothean dig site!”  
  
In the space of seconds Mordin had, as usual, caught everyone's attention and found a possible explanation. The three young people however, weren't buying it.  
  
“A goddamn prothean relic did this? You're off your nut.”  
  
“No fucking way. Prothean relics are data caches at best – tech left over from a bygone era -”  
  
“Spirits, my father is going to kill me... I'm trapped on a human vessel with you crackpots?!”  
  
“Shut it, ya Turian bastard!”  
  
“My parents are married.”  
  
“Got nothin' ta do with it.”  
  
“It's got everything to do with it, you backwater ape.”  
  
“I'm going to re-arrange your ugly scaly face you little shit!”  
  
“ENOUGH!”  
  
The boys stopped their bickering as the redhead, apparently named Shepard, stood, glaring at the room. Garrus could have sworn he smelled salt water, but with a quick look around found there was none to be had. Zaeed on the other hand, was wondering exactly how long it would take to get the little miss out of her knickers and into or onto the next sturdiest surface he could find.  
  
“Lawson.”  
  
“Commander?”  
  
“I'll say this one last time, get my mother, Commander...Captain Hannah Shepard on a comlink now. I don't know what's going on and frankly I don't care. The last thing I remember is going down to the children's wing on the Einstein to help keep their minds off the fact half their families were dead thanks to the bastard Batarian slavers that hit Mindoir last week. I went to bed and now I'm here. I want to know how, why, and when it will be fixed - if it can be fixed. The Turian obviously has parents – he needs to be in contact with them. The Merc can be tossed on his ass in the brig for all I give a rat's ass.”  
  
“Oi girly, treat the founder of the Blue Suns with some respect or I'll teach you some.” The mercenary growled, every inch the Zaeed Miranda had come to know and disdain. What surprised the Cerberus operative was Shepard. She faced Massani, got up in his face even, very much a young girl but one with some backbone.  
  
“Try it _Merc_. Say you beat me down. I'm just a kid – an alliance officer's kid. But, I bet you get off on that kind of shit. Beat up people weaker than you – especially for money. You've got no honor, no sense of right or wrong. You're nothing but a big goddamn bully.” Aurelia spat, toe to toe with the taller human, her hand in his face, deadly serious.  
  
“Careful little girl. I wouldn't want to mess up that pretty face a yours.”  
  
“Bite me.”  
  
“That the best you got, girlie?”  
  
“Not even close. Back off or I'll _make_ you.”  
  
“Bet you can't even throw a punch.”  
  
“I've already been scouted for the Command track at the Alliance Academy. You tell me if I can throw a punch, half wit.”  
  
“Little bitch.”  
  
“Two bit mercenary. Couldn't even become a **real** soldier. You had to -”  
  
Zaeed punched Shepard before she could finish her sentence. In seconds she was up and the two were rolling around the floor, Shepard glowing an erie blue as her biotics flared, Zaeed spitting and cussing when she broke his nose.  
  
Miranda just let them have it out. Mordin watched with a frown gracing his features and Garrus, sneaky little hacker that he was, tapped away on his omnitool, bypassing normal comlink protocol to try and reach his father. His mandibles fluttered in frustration when Pallin, the UnderExecutor answered at C-Sec and growled when his father's apartment number was found to be disconnected. Frustrated when even his home number on Pavalen wouldn't work, the angry, puffed up Turian stalked over to the two also afflicted humans and tore them apart. Without care he tossed Zaeed to one side and sent Shepard careening into Miranda, all of them landing on the floor with loud, uncomfortable thuds.  
  
Without a word Vakarian walked out of Miranda's office and back toward the forward Battery where he'd woken up. Sitting up Aurelia glared at the door through which Garrus left then back at Zaeed.  
  
“That was your fault you know.”  
  
“Bullshit sweetheart.”  
  
“Whatever. Lawson.”  
  
“Shepard.” The Operative ground out, her patience at being bossed around by a teenager wearing thin.  
  
“Can I call my mom now?”  
  
Miranda sighed. “Yeah, come on, kid.”


	2. A (Possibly) Beautiful Friendship

Garrus felt like he was in some sort of nightmare. He should be on the citadel, visiting his father after his graduation from Basic Training. The night before they'd spoken about Garrus being one of the chosen candidates for the Spectres training. Didn't fight, but spoke...  
  
 _“I'm proud of you, Garrus. Top of your flight – that's something.”  
  
“It wasn't easy but, with your advice and Solona beating me throughout my childhood -”  
  
The elder Turian laughed, mandibles spread in a wide grin.  
  
“Oh Solona, she only wanted to make sure you could take a beating. She was watching out for her little brother.”  
  
“Yeah. Sure, I bet she told you that every time I ran to mom with a cracked carapace. It helped though. Top of my hand to hand training and, boy, do I know how to take a punch.”  
  
“Speaking of Solona, she and your mother will be here tomorrow to celebrate. Not sure what exactly we're going to do but they'll be here in the morning. Be up for 0630, they arrive at 0700 hours.”  
  
“No problem.”  
  
The two stood awkwardly for a moment before the elder sighed and looked over at his son. Tall, favoring his grandmother with his coloring, surefooted like his father.  
  
“Garrus, turn down the Spectre training.”  
  
“So you heard about that?”  
  
“Of course I did. I'm not Executor for looks.”  
  
“I was going to turn it down even if you hadn't told me.”  
  
The elder snorted, steel grey eyes zeroing in on his son's looking for any of the telltale signs of a lie.  
  
“No, really dad. I know you hate them. Besides, I want to be a C-Sec officer like you after I get out of the military. Being a Spectre kind of puts a damper on that.”  
  
“C-Sec? Don't you think you're a little hard headed for that?”  
  
“You sound like my Drill Instructor. Yeah, I'm hard headed but, I'm young. I'll be at least twenty four when I get out. I'll have cooled off by then. Don't worry so much Dad, I won't embarrass you.”  
  
“See that you don't, boy...See that you don't.”  
_  
Garrus had gone to bed a short while after that, then woken up **here.** What the hell was he doing on a human ship, a **terrorist** human ship. Was it like that Merc had said? Were the three of them hostages?  
  
The Salarian hadn't seemed to think so. In fact the Salarian seemed to agree with the older human female. And that red fringed female.She looked so stricken when her extranet search provided her data saying it was 2185. Shit, if it really was 2185 then he was something like thirty six years old.  
  
Again – no reason to be on a human dominated vessel. Humans couldn't have redeemed themselves so quickly that the council would trust them as C-Sec officers. Not after the brutality of the first contact war... Spirits, this was just too much. It made no sense.  
  
“Hey kid...” The voice of the red fringed human broke his thoughts as he swiveled to look at her.  
  
“What, human?”  
“Aurelia or Shepard, my name isn't human.”  
  
“Fine. What do you want...Aurelia.”  
  
“I'm sorry that me and the meathead's argument rubbed you the wrong way. This is...Everything is crazy. I'm sixteen, a Junior Officer Cadet at the Alliance Forces Academy High and was born in 2154! I should be thirty two years old. Apparently, you and me are great friends or some shit – but I've never seen you before in my life. Hell, how are a Turian and human supposed to be best friends or whatever? Last I heard our species still avoided each other for diplomacy's sake...”  
  
“You and the other human didn't make me angry.”  
  
“Oh, well, it kinda seemed that way.”  
  
“Listen, Shepard. I'm light years away from my family, apparently regressed twenty years and stuck on a known human terrorist group vessel.”  
  
“Yeah...I get that. Lawson called my mom and when I saw her it was all wrong. She's got wrinkles, grey hair, and is a Captain. She's still mad I volunteered on the Einstein when I should have been in Canada on spring break but she's old...” Shepard trailed off and smiled a bit, eyes watering visibly as she recalled the conversation that happened almost an hour before.  
  
 _“Captain Shepard, this is Operative Miranda Lawson, First on the...”  
  
“I know who you are Lawson. What's the occasion and why isn't it my daughter on the vid-screen?”  
  
“Well Ma'am there's been an incident-”  
  
“Don't say my daughter is dead, Lawson. She was reported dead two years ago just to extranet mail me six months ago and say she was on Spectre business in the Traverse!” The urgency and desperation in her mother's voice made Aurelia step forward toward the vid-screen and cam.  
  
“Mom?” Her voice quavered as she stared wide eyed at the much older visage of her mother. Grey hairs were overtaking the red, deep crows feet around the eyes, frown lines – dress blues with a ribbon rack twice the size it was last time she'd seen it.  
  
“Aurelia...?”  
  
“Tell me this is a joke. You look … you look old! Why did you pod me off the Einstein? Did it get attacked? Did the slavers come back for a second go at Mindoir?!” The teen stood over the vid-screen, hands clutching either side as an anchor to the reality that was very quickly slipping out of her grasp.  
  
“No sweetheart. I didn't pod you off the Einstein – though I should have when you snuck behind my back and applied to volunteer... Dear sweet lord, you look sixteen again. This is impossible.”  
  
Silence reigned for a moment before the Captain's gaze moved from her much too young daughter.  
  
“What the hell is going on, Lawson.”  
  
“We've got Mordin Solus examining one of the three affected individuals now Ma'am. In all likely hood this is the result of coming into contact with a Prothean artifact the Commander and her chosen ground team retrieved ground side yesterday. We're currently docked at Omega and won't be leaving until a solution is found.”  
  
“You're telling me a Prothean artifact somehow took my daughter and two other soldiers back into their teens?”  
  
“Yes Captain, that is the most logical explanation for the -”  
  
“Don't give me that horse shit, Lawson. Logic and you are rarely within mass relay jump space. My daughter was dead for two years and then **you** brought her back to life as an organic synthetic hybrid for the sole purpose of saving the galaxy from destruction. Now you're telling me a species that's been extinct for fifty thousand years is responsible for her mental and physical regression?! Forgive me if I don't believe you.”  
  
“Mom... I was dead? I am a Commander? This is my ship? What...I don't even...”  
  
“I'm coming to get you Aurelia. I'm taking you to Alliance Command and they'll figure this out.”  
  
“Mom, Miranda says this Solus guy is the best in the universe, if he can't fix us then -”  
  
“No. You are going to Earth.”  
  
“I can't! There are two other people who were apparently regressed! One isn't even human!”  
  
“Then send him back to his home world. His scientists can fix him while ours fix you.”  
  
“Mom you're being unreasonable.”  
  
“Aurelia you were dead. I buried everything but a body. Do not tell me I am being unreasonable. If they can't fix you then we'll just do this over. This time you won't be enlisting.”  
  
Shepard felt the air whoosh from her lungs. “Mom. No. The Alliance is my dream! You can't take it away from me!”  
  
“The Alliance took my husband from me! I won't let it take my daughter twice!”  
  
The redhead ground her teeth and turned away for a moment. The memory of her father's memorial searing her eyes.  
  
“There's no other place for me in the universe, Mom. I belong on a ship, in the black, helping people. You said so yourself. Dad did too. I'm a soldier through and through. I know you're scared of me going on a mission and dying but...if it's me or thousands of lives, then it's me.”  
  
On the other side of the vid-screen Hannah Shepard hung her head. Same speech, same girl, twenty years between the words. Her daughter would forever be tied to the lives of others it seemed.  
  
“I'm not letting this go, Aurelia. You don't get back to thirty-two in two months time and you're coming back to me. I'll separate and we're going back to earth, doing this whole thing over again.”  
  
“Mom.”  
  
“No Aurelia. I lost you once. I won't do it again. Shepard out.”  
_  
The silence as the hu- Aurelia, stared into the void pressed down on Garrus. The call and apparent revelation that this wasn't all some crazy scheme cooked up by terrorists seemed to weigh heavily on the girl. But, he wasn't quite sure it was the truth yet. Maybe he needed to see his own parents – like she did.  
  
“What's a Junior Officer Cadet exactly?”  
  
“I take specialized classes geared toward the command track. Apparently I caught some Alliance brass' eye when I lead a miniature assault on the playground while visiting my cousins on earth. Sure it helped that my Dad was the head of Engineering on his last post and my Mom is a Commander on the Einstein before that she served on a Kilimanjaro class cruiser. Any who – the guy said that he'd never seen battle tactics executed so well by a ten year old. So I got a scholarship for the Junior Officer program in the Alliance JROTC high school. Guess it'll be better than heading to college to get my commission.”  
  
“So it's a way to jump Hierarchy.”  
  
“Say what now?”  
  
“Turians use familial rank to determine what track you go into. There are exceptions of course but it's not often that more than one or two conscripts drop more than one level based solely on lack of skill. Quite a few rise up though.”  
  
“So...what are you?”  
  
“Sniper – my family is middle class by human standards, but I exhibited good special forces qualities.”  
  
“So...is that good for a Turian?”  
  
“To me it's the best. A lot of people didn't think I could take the training, sitting for hours, waiting for the perfect kill shot...I'm a bit of a hot head.” Garrus admitted sheepishly, his mandibles fluttering awkwardly.  
  
“You don't say.” Shepard retorted, an easy smile gracing her lips. “You're an O.K. Guy ya know that?”  
  
“I, uh, thanks? You're pretty nice for a human.”  
  
“To be honest, you're the first alien I've ever met.”  
  
“Same here.”  
  
Garrus was oblivious to the quiet perusal of his form by green eyes as they spoke. Shepard took in his bright blue eyes, the deep cerulean blue paint on his face, the slight greyish color of his skin. He was tall to her, probably standard where most Turians were concerned, seemed to be built like a whipcord. She decided that although not what she was used to – he was appealing in a strange way.  
  
“You're cuter than I thought Turians could be.”  
  
Garrus choked and shot a look at his human companion. She was smiling brazenly at him, no hint of shame or mischief to be had. Unbidden his eyes moved over her, falling over her slight curves and taking in her odd coloring, looking for familiarity where there was none. Even sitting she was a head and a half shorter than he was. However, her arms showed a fair amount of muscle tone for her ag in comparison to the few humans he'd met on the Citadel. She wasn't as soft as most females. Her eyes were soft...but the rest of her was, tight, coiled, ready to strike. It wasn't something he could see, but she radiated it.  
  
“You... your waist is nice. You've got strong legs and your fringe is very...shiny.” He complimented clumsily.  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
It was, as they say – the start to a beautiful friendship.


	3. The day His Eyes opened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt I chose as inspiration for this fic suggested an Earth Born Shepard. For me that would have been too easy and led to less smut, but a significant increase in violence. Spacer Shepard always struck me as a very 'do the right thing even when the cards screw you over' kind of person. That's often a more challenging character to write – their voice takes time to mature and flow as the character has a very deep thought process.
> 
> That may or may not have made you all think I'm nuts but here is the next installment of Ah, To Be Young Again. Enjoy!

Garrus had made Aurelia's acquaintance a little over a month ago. They'd become a dynamic duo in that time. He'd helped hone her shooting skills while Thane worked on her hand to hand. The redhead had managed to rope them both into her hair brained escape plan should the worst come to pass and they were stuck as teens.  
  
  
The turian had to admit he admired the human's tenacious ability to get what she felt was right done. Aurelia took vid-coms from her mother, all the while holding her position that she'd be returned to her correct age or she'd do everything the way she had before. It took guts to do it, too. He wasn't sure he'd be able to stand up to his father, toe to toe, when Devarous decided what was best.  
  
  
“Kelly no. I let you put me in this crazy get up but you are not parading me around the damn ship with it! I have dignity you know!” The desperate screech of Aurelia broke Garrus from his musings and he popped his head out of the Main Battery to see what was going on. The site made his heart stutter in his chest.  
  
  
He had known Aurelia was pretty for a human, but he'd never have thought her pretty by turian standards. She'd hidden herself in fatigues and sweatshirts, let her hair curl around her face wildly and luxuriated in being “all natural” as she called it. The girl that was currently battling the Yeoman was something else. Hair half up with an ornament holding it back, a thin strapped green dress hugging at her chest, cinched in at the waist with a brown belt, her waist on display, hips flaring with the dress' fabric painted on like a second skin to her knees. It was the nakedness of her neck, and the way the dress showed off how curved she was that made the light switch flip for the young male.  
  
  
She was a vision, even as her face turned steadily redder, freckles standing out in stark contrast. Her voice carried over the third deck, pleading with the Yeoman to just take her to Afterlife already and be “done with the whole damn dress thing”. Garrus hoped Aurelia would wear dresses every day for the rest of her life – and he was sure that he wasn't the only one.  
  
  
The older drell was in the Mess and had turned to look at the young woman when her voice carried through the level. The fact that the Yeoman had managed to get the younger girl all the way over to Gardner and was ordering her a Veggie Burger with Apples and Fries made it easier for the young officer to see his facial expression. It was...wistful. He'd heard the rumors that the Commander had been with him before her regression – it made a hot angry bubble well in his stomach. But the drell had yet to make a move to reclaim his now significantly younger mate. It was curious.  
  
  
“Garrus! Save me from this wild woman's machinations! She's going to show me off to the whole damn ship like this. At least protect me from hungry stares and octopus hands.” Aurelia pleaded, when she finally caught sight of him.  
  
  
“What's an octopus?” He questioned, laughing at the slightly tortured expression on his friend's face.  
  
  
“It's a sea creature with eight arms.”  
  
  
“So...since when do humans spontaneously generate three extra sets of hands?”  
  
  
“It's a phrase, Vakarian! Meaning people will try to _grope_ me in this get up. Be my body guard!” She wailed dramaticly, throwing an arm over her eyes, lifting it slightly so she could peak at him from under it.  
  
  
The suede colored turian shifted to lean against the door of the battery, crossing his arms and raising one to scratch at a mandible – the picture of nonchalance. “I don't know, Shepard. What am I getting out of this, exactly? I mean what if someone messes up my pretty face to get to you?”  
  
  
“Then I'll nurse you back to health myself and kick the offender's teeth in with my heel.” The reply was dead serious and it startled Garrus. Looking up (starting at the mentioned heels, hell, he'd never seen a human's legs look sexy before) he found Aurelia's face to be schooled in an honest expression. From her pink lips to red nose and rosy cheeks nothing said “liar” to him.  
  
  
“Fine. I'll keep the big bad octopus hands away from you.”  
  
  
The squeal of glee that Aurelia let out made Garrus cringe, but the arm full of her he got when she launched herself into his arms made up for it. The sweet, fleeting press of her lips on his mandible was strange but definitely something he'd like to experience again some day.  
  
  
“Jeez, Reli. If this is the reaction I get by pledging to protect you from groping goons – I'll follow you to hell and back.” He teased lowly, not wanting to make the girl uncomfortable.  
  
  
Instead she laughed and squeezed her arms around him tighter before letting him go and gathering up her food from the Yeoman's hands. Skipping from the room she called back over her shoulder to Garrus,  
  
  
“I'll see you at 2000 hours, Vakarian. Casual dress, we're going dancing.”  
  
  
 _'Well. Ancestors have mercy – I've got a semi-date with Shepard.'_ He mused, staring at the corner she'd disappeared around, mandibles slack in a silly grin.


End file.
